Patrick Denoun

Patrick Denoun was born in Paris in 1950. He began painting at the age of eight, at 15 he entered a preparatory academy located in the well-known Quartier Latin. At 17 he was one of 160 candidates from over 3000 applicants to gain admittance to the famous French art school Boulle, where he studied many art mediums and went on to earn a degree in wood sculpting.

After working as a sculptor for a few years, Denoun decided to return to his inks and paints. He states that, “It has always been important to me as an artist, to express myself with my hands, whether it is sculpture, woodworking, ink drawings or painting”. At about this time he also relocated to Saint Tropez where he began selling his work in art shows and decided to travel to see what the world had to offer.

Denoun could tell stories of his travels in India, Thailand, Bali, Morocco and North Africa; of driving motorcycles through the Sahara Desert. Of the United States where he traveled through New Orleans and Florida and where he remembers buying a Cadillac in Alabama. He painted unceasingly even in those early days and sold his work out of the trunk of the Caddy. In 1976 his travels brought him on an extended journey to Mexico, where he would find him self returning until 1985 when he finally moved to Puerto Vallarta to live and work.

From his travels Patrick gained much of his inspiration. He painted what he called the “many similarities” of the “natural world” such as the “likeness in lifestyles, the textures of adobe walls, spicy food and skylights.” He was inspired by the “natural and simple things of life” that he discovered on his journeys. For instance, women spinning the wool from sheep and transforming it into colourful carpets, or native peoples shaping clay pots by hand from the black soil. Villagers high in the mountains, indigenous peoples coming to the markets to sell their fruits, and “people who touch the earth” were said to motivate him. He once stated, “People are the reason I love Mexico, they are so nice, so friendly.” Denoun says he “prefers to express himself with the ‘Eden’ we have on earth to protect that life, the trees, the plants, the people.”

For more than 20 years Puerto Vallarta was fortunate to have Patrick Denoun as a resident artist. Originally from France, but more a citizen of the world, Patrick provided us with art that was continually evolving and always fascinating. Denoun was not one to be complacent and just paint what he knew would sell, he was a man consumed by fresh ideas crying out to be expressed.

The variety of his output over the years was amazing; his art never remained long with one style. He was always experimenting to come up with something new that would transcend where his mind set had been at previously. One season could be full of bright colours of market scenes of Mexico, whereas the next could be of black-and-white nudes; Patrick was never limited by a lack of ideas of expression.

For Patrick, an exhibition was an opportunity to show the world what he had most recently discovered. He never painted for us, his audience; he painted to release his endless stream of artistic energy. Fortunately for us all, we still have his art to remember him by.

The series of Mexican market scenes that graces the dining room of Casa Panorámica was first shown at an exhibition at Galería Pacifico in Puerto Vallarta, and the prints nearly sold out the first day. The breathtaking 'Las Carnitas' is our only original painting of Denoun's and it hangs above the couch in the main living room.

Patrick Denoun passed away in a motorcycle accident near his Vallarta home on April 8, 2007. He is survived by his wife, Cathy, and his two children Max and Sasha.